


Bring You Back

by AliasArchives



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fox and The Hound world, Friendship, Gen, Look Lea's friendships mean the world to me and that is why I do this, just a bit though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 05:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11593794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliasArchives/pseuds/AliasArchives
Summary: After arriving in a new world, Lea discovers that he has been separated from his traveling partners/Fellow keyblade wielders. Our foxy friend has to go looking for them both, only to find that trouble seems to be following all of them.





	Bring You Back

     When he arrived at the world he, Roxas, and Xion were supposed to investigate, Lea was surprised by how big the trees around him were. He let out a low whistle.

     “Wow, do you think this place is some kind of Giant’s world? These trees are huge,” the redhead mused. He then glanced over his shoulder and froze. He did not remember his outfit for today being quite so orange, and he  _ knew  _ that it had not been furry. He also remembered that a puffy tail was not an accessory he would ever own. “What-Roxas? Xion?” 

     Despite his sudden change in appearance, Lea knew that it was only temporary. Sora had mentioned that, to keep order, some worlds that keyblade wielders went to would alter a visitor’s form, so that they fit in with the other inhabitants. It could be annoying, sure, but it was nothing to worry about. Right now Lea had more urgent matters to worry about: two-thirds of his exploration party, not to mention his two best friends, were nowhere to be seen.

_      Since when do worlds separate people coming to them at the same time? _ Lea wondered. He felt his tail bristle in frustration, but he knew that worrying would get him nowhere. Roxas and Xion were both more capable with a keyblade than he could hope to be, so he should have been confident they could watch after themselves.

_      But I’m not, _ he started walking down a narrow pathway in the undergrowth.  _ What if, because they’re younger, they have weaker bodies as animals? _

     That was not his only problem, either. He could smell other animals with his new and improved nose. How exactly was he meant to find his friends and  _ recognize _ them? He had no idea what animals they would be! Roxas could be a squirrel, and Xion could be a blackbird, for all he knew! He had no idea what to look for!

     “Roxas! Xion! Where are you?!” Lea called, continuing further down the path. He let out a yelp of surprise and jumped when he heard something behind him clamp shut with a loud, metallic snap. Wheeling around, his fur stood on end while he looked at what had made the noise. A small hunter’s trap had sprung shut, likely because of Lea just barely grazing it with a foot. His blood ran cold as he thought of either one of his friends stepping down on the center of one of those traps. One of those could kill either one of them, without a doubt.

     “Xion! Roxas!” He yelled again, observing the area around him for more traps before he raced further into the trees. He was trying to keep himself calm, and he was trying to assure himself that the two teens could watch after themselves, but after just getting them back from wherever in Sora’s heart they had been stuffed, he could not bear the thought of losing them again. Lea needed to know they were safe.

     The trail Lea was running on led to a clearing with a small pond that fed into a creek. The redhead could see fish swimming around in the water from a few feet away, but his attention moved to two little fox kits on top of a stump. The pair sat with their focus invested in the water mere inches away from them. One was a mixture of black and dark brown, while the other was a sandy gold color. Lea felt his entire body relax when he realized who the kits were, and so he sank to the ground and watched as the golden fox lifted its paw and swatted at the water in front of it. Droplets splashed onto Lea and he wrinkled his face in displeasure, but when he heard a squawk of surprise and a louder splash, he opened his eyes and sprang to his feet.

     The golden kit had fallen into the pond and was now floundering towards the bank, while the black kit called out to it, looking as though it were trying to contain its laughter.

     “Are you okay?!”

     The golden fox spat a mouthful of water out and clambered onto the grass beside the pond. Now he resembled more of a drowned rat than a fox, Lea noted. “I’m fine! Ugh...I didn’t think I’d lose my balance.”

     The other kit bounced down from her perch on the log, and if Lea needed more proof as to who these two were, he found it in the fox kit’s blue eyes, which locked onto Lea once she was beside her playmate. Her tail wiggled excitedly.

     “Lea! We were wondering where you were!” She called, nudging the golden fox kit to his feet before running to stand in front of the red fox.

     Lea laughed at her enthusiasm.“Not enough to come looking for me, I take it,” he teased, smiling down at the pair. In actuality, he was relieved they had not come looking for him. There had been traps between him and the two youngsters, after all…”I’m glad you two found each other, at least.”

     “We actually got dropped in the same place as one another. I don’t know what happened to you,” the gold kit, Roxas, explained. 

     Lea simply shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows. Maybe it has something to do with the connection you two have, or, something. No clue.” It was not like they needed to figure out what had gone wrong anyways.This was the first time they performed reconnaissance since their organization days, after all, so something was bound to go wrong. Lea was just thankful it was something as small as getting misplaced by portals. 

     “Well, we haven’t seen any heartless here... There’s also no sign of any of The Thirteen,” Xion mused, referring to Xehanort’s group of possessed disciples with a frown. “What about you? Have you seen anything odd?”

     “There are some hunter’s traps around, but I’m assuming that’s normal for this world. Other than that it’s pretty silent.” Lea murmured. Roxas shook his fur out, splattering more water on his companions.

     “Guess that means this world is safe. We can poke around a little more, but otherwise I think we can just report back to Yen Sid’s tower,” the blonde said.

     “I wouldn’t mind hanging around here for a little longer,” Lea confessed. “It’s peaceful, and I don’t think we’ve had a chance to enjoy peace and quiet since you guys were brought back.”

     “You just don’t want to go back because Riku and Aqua will force you to do training drills,” Roxas pointed out. Lea flicked his tail and tilted his head upwards.

     “Who do you take me for, Demyx? I would  _ never _ shirk my duties as a keyblade apprentice!” The redhead exclaimed indignantly. This earned a laugh from Xion.

     “Not your duties, just your training,” she teased. 

     “It’s not like you guys had to train,” Lea grumbled, earning a playful nudge from both of the teens.

     “Fine, we’ll stay for a little bit longer. Let’s go look around some more!” Roxas hummed, giving his body one more shake before he started trotting towards another path in the bushes. Xion and Lea followed after him.

 

     The group spent a good portion of the afternoon and early evening exploring the forest. They made frequent stops at any place that made a good spot to wrestle, seeing as Roxas and Xion were too small to use their keyblades, and often ended up in a pile together, dozing peacefully until Roxas or Xion found something new to hold their attention. The cycle repeated three or four times before the trio realized that dusk was starting to settle over the woods.They also noticed that many animals seemed on edge. One in particular, a rabbit, dashed into the clearing they were laying in. It panicked when it saw them, and froze in place.

     “Are you okay?” Roxas asked. He approached the frightened creature slowly, but it immediately thumped its foot in warning.

     “Dog...Dog...There’s a big -a huge- dog in the woods! It won’t make any noise- just stares ahead and keeps walking. It wants something- something particular,” its words were almost intelligible, but after the creature ran off Lea shuffled on his feet.

     “We have to get out of here,” he murmured. 

     Xion’s ears fell back. “But, what if it’s one of The Thirteen? They’ll keep tracking us until they finally catch us.”

     “It’s too dangerous for us to try to take them on here, even if we have more people-” Lea could barely finish his sentence when he saw the dog the rabbit from earlier had been talking about. The prey animal did not lie; the creature was about twice Lea’s current size, with a bluish tint to its fur and a telltale ‘x’ slashed across its face.

_      Isa. _

     Immediately Lea stepped between his old friend and Roxas and Xion. He bared his teeth in a snarl, earning an equally nasty look from the dog before him.

     “Xion, Roxas, get out of here.” Lea ordered. The pair stared at him in horror. “Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine, but you guys need to get away.”

     Xion was the first to move. She shoved Roxas, forcing him to move alongside her. Roxas’ gaze stared at Lea for as long as he could before the golden fox was obscured from view.

     The entire time Lea and Isa were staring at one another with their teeth bared. Any time the blue-haired dog moved to follow after Roxas and Xion, Lea stepped in front of him and snarled.

     “Isa. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” The red fox asked. His claws were digging deep into the dirt beneath him, forcing Lea to stand his ground. Isa would not speak, however. “We have our hearts back, why are you on Xehanort’s side? He did this to us!”

     Now a low growl escaped Isa. He lunged forward, teeth bared and snapping shut mere centimeters from Lea’s face. 

     “Don’t make me do this Isa. Don’t make me fight you again.” There was genuine sadness in Lea’s gaze, which mixed with his determination to protect Roxas and Xion. “Don’t let him pit us against one another again.”

     “He never pit me against you, Lea. You pit yourself against me.” Isa rasped out. He was now nose to nose with Lea, with his ears drawn back and his hackles raised. “You chose them over your best friend; you left me to rot.”

     “I didn’t choose them over you. You changed, Isa. You changed way too much. Under Xemnas, and now under Xehanort’s command...You’re not Isa.” The words made Lea sick to his stomach. He took a deep breath before speaking again, “You’re not  _ my  _ Isa.”

     Isa’s face changed for a moment. For a heartbeat his snarl dropped into a frown, and his yellow eyes grew dull and lifeless.

     “Get out of here, Lea. Run.” The voice speaking to Lea seemed detached from the body in front of him, and his heart shattered. Isa was still in there.

     “I’ll bring you back safe, Isa. I promise,” Lea whispered, pressing himself against Isa’s broad chest before he turned and dashed away.

     When he caught up with Xion and Roxas, he was already opening a dark portal.

     “Lea! Are you okay?!” Roxas asked, frowning at his shaken friend.

     “Nothing’s broken, but we need to go. Now.” Lea gestured towards the portal, waiting for his younger companions to enter first before he shut his eyes tight.

_      I’ll bring you back _ , he promised. He then opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder. Several yards away he saw Isa staring after him, though his friend refused to move an inch. Two heartbeats seemed to harmonize in the air, making Lea’s chest ache as he stepped through his portal, towards safety.

_      I’ll always bring you back. _

**Author's Note:**

> SO...I wrote this. I have no idea what to call Xehanort's little posse, so The Thirteen seemed fitting enough, and it avoided the confusion of calling it 'The New Organization' or something like that.  
> I just want Isa to come back from Xehanort's grip. That's what I want in life.


End file.
